Improvement in manufacture of boots and shoes



UNITED STATES PATENT QFFIGET ELBRIDGE MANN, OF MILFORD, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN MANUFACTURE OF BOOTS AND SHOES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N0. 212,717, dated February 25, 1879 5 application filed December 11, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ELBRIDGE MANN, of Milford, Worcester county, Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in the llIanufacture of Boots and Shoes, of which the following is a specification:

This invention relates to improvements in the manufacture of boots or shoes from uncurried leather, or rather to the manufacture of such articles prior to the process of curry ing the leather; for in my case the manipulation and treatment which the leather necessarily undergoes while being made up have practically the same effect upon it as the currying process would. I gain several important advantages by my method, as will be hereinafter explained.

The utility and value of my invention are seen to the greatest advantage in the manufacture of boots and shoes from splits, so called, though it is applicable to all varieties of leather.

As is well known, it is the universal custom to manufacture boots and shoes from ourried leatherthat is to say, leather which has passed through the carrying process,by which it is caused to absorb a certain amount of oil and other substances, to give it body and increase its weight-and its right side is blackened, this being the last process to which leather is subjected before being made up.

In cutting up a skin to make into boots or shoes, a considerable portion is wasted, and the labor and expense of eurrying these waste pieces or scraps is a considerable percentage of the whole cost.

Again, the manufacturer, in buying curried leather, pays the price of leather for a large percentage in weight of cheap materials, with which the skin is stuffed during the currying process.

In carrying out my invention, I proceed to cut the fronts and backs of boots or shoes from uncurried leather, and before closing the same I apply a coat of oil to the inside and outside of such fronts and backs, and blacken the outsides of them, after which they are closed and made up in the usual manner.

After being made up the boot is passed through the treers hands, when the leather is manipulated and softened, and its outer surface rendered smooth and finished in appearance.

The manipulations of the leather at the hands of the treer, in connection with the substances applied to it, have practically the same effect upon it as the eurrying process; and as the boot, when made from curried leather, must go through the same operations by the treer, it will be obvious that I save the labor of eurrying the skin.

To a considerable extent, also, I save the expense of the materials used in the currying process, as sufficient amount of oil, Ste, is utilized from the crimping process to answer part of the purpose.

Practically, I make up a boot and curry it afterward, as the manipulations of the treer have all the beneficial results that follow the currying process.

Among the advantages of my system, as compared with the use of curried leather, are the following:

First, in the purchase of stock, I get more surface of real leather in the pound, as I buy the leather without the large percentage of adulterations incident to the curryin g process.

Second, I economize in labor, and, to a certain extent, in the materials required in the currying process, since the labor of the treer,

which has the same effect upon the leather,

must be expended in any event, and, as before stated, the waste materials from the crimping process supply much that is needed to effeet the finishing of the leather after being made up.

Third, the scraps left after cutting up a skin can be disposed of to much better advantage than if the leather had been previously curried.

I claim as my invention- The herein-described improvement in the process of manufacturing boots and shoes, which consists in making up the boot or shoe from uncurried leather, substantially as described, and then bringing the leather to a curried and finished condition during the sub sequent operation of treein g, substantially as set forth.

ELBEIDGE MANN.

WVitnesses:

F. GUnTIs, THoMAs TRIPP. 

